Minnesota Election Court... Sorting... Ballots... Slowly
This morning's proceedings in the Minnesota election trial show just how the court will be moving from here on out in the wake of yesterday's important rulings regarding absentee ballots: Very, very, very slowly.
Yesterday's rulings declared that Coleman can continue to advocate on behalf of a pool of 4,797 ballots -- but that he has to argue for them one by one, rather than getting the sweeping ruling he wanted to automatically count them.
And reviewing envelopes one by one is exactly what Friedberg is doing. Friedberg is going down a list of ballots with Kevin Corbid, the head elections official for Washington County, and asking for any information Corbid can give about why they were rejected. In many cases Friedberg has withdrawn the ballot after Corbid gave a satisfactory answer, while others have been left for a future ruling by the three-judge panel.
Keep in mind that there are 4,797 total ballots that Coleman is looking over. There are also 87 counties in Minnesota, and furthermore Hennepin County (Minneapolis) has its individual municipalities running the elections. So if we go through this process for every single ballot, it's going to take a long time.
One judge has been fairly open about how annoying this can all be -- Hennepin County Judge Denise Reilly, who was appointed to the bench in the 1990's by Republican Governor Arne Carlson. At one point Friedberg asked Corbid for a detailed opinion about a particular signature, leading Franken's team to object. "Sustained," Reilly said, with a hint of giggling. "I see the witness shrugging."
Later on, Friedberg reiterated that at one point he'd previously asked for all the ballots to just be opened, if Franken would agree. Reilly shot back: "Well, the court ruled on your motion for summary judgment yesterday, and denied that request."
Tomorrow the state Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in Franken's case that he's entitled to a certificate of election immediately, which could get him into the Senate while the case continues on the sidelines. This would be one possible solution, but don't count on it until it actually happens.
Josh
Matt
Eric
Brian
What is the ratio of ballots Friedberg has withdrawn due to satisfactory answer to the ones put aside for future ruling by the panel?
Will the Coleman camp give the judges over 1000 ballots to look at?
If Coleman only wins one in ten challenges out of the 4800 in question that is still 480 votes.
February 4, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
If they had good individual cases they would have put them up already. If they had 480 of them I'm sure that would be screamed from the rooftops.
Coleman ain't got bupkis except for an ability to keep Franken out of the Senate for a while longer.
February 4, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
The judge should appoint a referee to review the ballots and have a trial on only those that the parties' object to.
Hmmm. Sounds familiar. The MN Supreme Court really screwed this up on the absentees.
February 4, 2009 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let it play out however it plays out. If it takes a year then it takes a year. We would want the same thing if the shoe was on the other foot, which is what makes us better then them.
February 4, 2009 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
WRONG.
THEY want it to take a year. That's the whole plan. It does not serve US well, to let them get away with it.
They don't want Franken to be seated for as long as possible, give the inevitable that they know for a fact that it will happen.
Let's make this clear: the Coleman/GOP team has absolutely no right to throw shit against the wall and sue a ham sandwich, just to delay the inevitable. If we had a Supreme Court that shilled for our ideology the way the Rehnquist Court shilled for Bush, there would be a case to be made (and probably a more honest one) that Franken's rights and those of the citizens of both MN and the U.S. in general, are being usurped by "the process".
Which is the whole goddamned idea, in case you haven't figured that out.
February 4, 2009 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is probably going to be one part of the arguments that the Franken folks will be making to the state Supremes tomorrow.
February 4, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
The sad part of this is that, after Franken does get seated (however much damage the delay has caused in the interim), he will become a treasured and beloved Republican talking point forevermore, about how "the Democrat Party didn't want your vote to be counted!".
And of course, the irony of that is that when the election appeared over, and Coleman attempted to mau-mau Al Franken into throwing the towel in prematurely, Franken did not react with that "gracious gentleman" Beltway Democrat bullshit which Al Gore and John Kerry provided in their respective "defeats" (and in the case of Kerry, after he had promised to stand by the counting of every vote!).
Franken should have been an admirable object lesson to all American voters and Democratic office-seekers, that when the R's pull their shenanigans, you fight back, for as long and hard as it takes, and let the critics squeal to their heart's content.
Instead, the Republican noise machine is now poised to turn Al Franken into the poster boy for stopping the counting of votes. And if we really pull the short straw on this, "frivolous lawsuits" and "legislating from the bench", as well... the exact crimes for which it is Coleman and the R's, who are guilty as sin.
February 4, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Minnesota Democrats have taken a lot of knocks for supposedly picking a bad candidate, but for many of us, we picked him partly because we knew he would fight back.
February 4, 2009 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope that, when Franken is finally seated, some of his pit bull combativeness will rub off on other Democrats. Anyone who's capable of calling out Limbaugh and not worrying if his ass is going to be handed to him is going to, at the very least, boost the morale of the Democratic majority.
February 4, 2009 7:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Norm seem excited about having to justify every previously reviewed ballot. Sounds like a one day at a time proposition. To bad he and his team can't follow there own lead and apply the Twelve Steps to go along with a "day at a time" philosophy
February 4, 2009 12:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
If it takes a year or so to go through all of this, or some unspecified duration, how do you think voters in Minnisota will react in the next election?
February 4, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pure obstructionism.
So, if we as citizens are entitled to a quick trial, what does it mean that in matters of elections, Al Franken and the citizens as a whole are not?
February 4, 2009 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
The right to a quick trial only has to do with how soon the trial starts. It has nothing to do with how long the trial itself lasts.
February 4, 2009 2:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
How is this all playing in Minnesota? Who's winning the PR war? Is there a push to get representation from a second Senator? Where is the Barkley voter siding?
February 4, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Without any scientific evidence, just based on random interaction with other citizens, this dragged-out process is hurting both Norm and Al. Due to the extremely intense and vituperative smear campaign run against Al Franken, a lot of people's minds are just poisoned and shut against Al. That includes a lot of Democrats---many of whom voted for Barkley. Barkley also got some otherwise Republican votes.
I haven't noticed any marked swing back behind Al from the Barkley defectors. If they held the election today, Barkley might do even better. So my impression is that the Minnesota voters largely express a "plague on both your houses" attitude. This even comes from some FRANKEN voters!
The few feeble expressions of support for Al from anyone in the national Democratic leadership have been awkward and unhelpful---but then, they have been few and far between anyhow.
February 4, 2009 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The rule on cloture was passed by majority vote in the Senate. It's that rule, and the daemonization of Franken, that interests the GOP. Franken will be their daemon regardless of how this works, but changing the number of votes needed for cloture while the seat is open would change Republican appetites for endless delay dramatically.
February 4, 2009 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink